From research to perishables - Saveggy's journey towards a plastic-free food industry

This is part of Sweden Startup Nation's interview series with startup founders, investors and other actors in the ecosystem, which aims to highlight systemic failures and improve the conditions for Swedish startups.

Saveggy was founded in 2020 in Lund, Sweden, by Vahid Sohrabpour and Arash Fayyazi. Their vision: to replace plastic with a plant-based, edible cover that preserves fruits and vegetables longer while reducing food waste. They were colleagues at Tetra Pak when Vahid was an industrial PhD student employed by Tetra Pak in collaboration with Lund University. After several years of research and development, their product is now ready to scale. But as is often the case for Swedish food and deeptech companies, the path from lab to launch is fraught with regulations, funding gaps and an ecosystem that doesn't quite keep up.

Vahid Sohrabpour is an example of something Sweden often talks about but rarely achieves in practice: an international researcher from a non-EU country who not only stayed, but also built a research-based deep-tech start-up with global potential here.

"The idea emerged during my research in packaging logistics at Lund University. I asked myself: what if the best packaging is actually no packaging at all?" says Vahid Sohrabpour.

Today, Saveggy is the first in Europe to offer an edible cover that meets both EU and US food safety requirements and performs on par with plastic. The first product has been tested in stores with Lidl and more are on the way. But the journey has not been straightforward.

From research to launch

The path from idea to launch has been through collaboration with Lund University, Krinova Incubator, RISE, Ideon Innovation, SmiLe Venture Hub, LU Innovation and Medicon Village. Collaboration with actors such as Lidl and ICA has been crucial - but most of it started on a small scale, with university funding, incubator grants often coming from Vinnova, grants from the Swedish Board of Agriculture, the EU and Ignite's matching program.

"Krinova brought us in at an early stage, even though we had very little to show, and told us about the Sustainability Challenge organized by Lidl. We entered the competition and were selected as one of the top five entries out of 125 startups and research projects. This led to a development grant of SEK 2.1 million. Since then, Lidl has been a key partner, not only with funding but also with staff, commercialization expertise and validation in their supply chain. In 2024, we did a test launch together with them," says Vahid.

It was also through Ignite's matching program that Saveggy and ICA met. The collaboration helped Saveggy to understand the market's requirements and needs at an early stage, and ICA, together with Odlarna, was able to contribute both insights and guidance on product development. It became a concrete example of how big players and startups together can accelerate the transition to more sustainable solutions.

- We received guidance on what was needed to reach the market, already at an early stage. It gave us invaluable knowledge in our development," says Vahid Sohrabpour.

Vahid came to Sweden as a researcher from Iran and highlights in particular something he believes is crucial to communicate to the outside world - that the Swedish education system gives researchers the opportunity to own and further develop their ideas.

"Sweden is a great country to have ideas in. At the university, the inventor owns the intellectual property, and the universities support innovation with various types of grants. There are good incubators, and cooperation between academia and business works well," says Vahid.

"This is not a given in other countries. Here, researchers can be both innovators and entrepreneurs. There is a structure that enables this, and we must safeguard it."

At the same time, he emphasizes the importance of linking researchers with commercial skills early on. He himself had experience with start-ups and was able to build a team around the business step by step.

"Universities are good at ideas and technology, but you always need someone who knows sales, scaling and realization. We need to get better at building bridges between the two."

A system that penalizes risk

When it comes to capital, Vahid sees big differences between Europe and the US.

"In the US, taking risk early is a given. There is an incredible amount of capital and better valuations. In Sweden, it's the opposite: less capital, more fear of risk"

He also points to structural flaws. "In the UK there are tax incentives for investors, but in Sweden investments are basically taxed like any other capital.

"If we want to build the next generation of climate companies in Sweden, we need to create better conditions. It's not just about support, but about long-term capital with the right incentives."

Saveggy's work on compliance

For many foodtech companies, it's not the technology that's difficult, but getting the necessary permits. Vahid describes the regulatory process as one of the biggest challenges.

"Food regulations in the EU are much tougher than in the US, for example. This is one reason why many foodtech companies are considering leaving Europe. "We chose to stay in Sweden and have managed to comply with both European and US regulations. I owe my education to Swedish society, funded by taxpayers, and I have chosen to give back by founding my innovation-driven company here in Sweden," says Vahid.

He sees the fact that Saveggy is the first in its segment with a fully compliant product as a sign of strength, but also as an illustration of how much work is required in the food sector.

"It's not enough to develop a good product - it needs to be properly designed from the start to meet complex regulatory requirements. This requires a team with the right skills, long-term funding and perseverance."

The incubator environment - a strength in Lund

Saveggy has been based in both Ideon Science Park and Medicon Village - two hubs in southern Sweden's innovation system. Medicon Village is Scandinavia's largest life science park, with more than 2,800 people from 180 companies and organizations that together drive development in research, innovation and social benefit. The site has grown out of AstraZeneca's former research facility in Lund and today serves as a catalyst for advanced research and business development - in close collaboration between academia, business and society.

SmiLe Venture Hub is one of Europe's leading venture hubs. "Everything is in one place - labs, machines, business coaching, networks, investors. We've had access to everything we needed and also been part of a community where we've learned from others along the way," says Vahid.

He sees Lund as a strong European node for food technology, on a par with places like Wageningen in the Netherlands.

Next steps: industrial scale and new products

In 2025, Saveggy plans to scale up its production industrially. At the same time, new variants of the protector are being developed for other fruits and vegetables, such as peppers, bananas and eggplants.

"The next phase is large-scale production. But that requires funding. I basically spend a full-time job raising money, both from investors and in the form of public grants. It is necessary, but it takes time."

Looking to the future: the age of plastic is over

Vahid is convinced that the future of fruit and vegetables is plastic-free. As early as 2030, new EU rules will ban single-use packaging for fruit and vegetables under 1.5 kg. This is a game-changer.

"We will see a wave of innovation for new types of protection, packaging and logistics solutions. Saveggy is just the beginning. Sustainability is not a trend, it is a necessity."

Sweden Startup Nation - a voice where it's needed

Vahid sees that Sweden has several strengths as an innovation country - researchers can own their ideas, there are public innovation grants and high-quality incubators. At the same time, he believes that Sweden, like many other countries, still has a lot to learn from the US approach to risk.

"Jeff Bezos has said that what's unique about the US is not the banks - Europe has those too - it's that you can get $50 million in capital for something that has only a 10 percent chance of success. It is an extremely risk-averse system that has created a huge entrepreneurial dynamic. Sweden doesn't need to become the US, but we need to be more daring if we want to scale innovation," says Vahid.

Vahid welcomes the Sweden Startup Nation initiative, especially in its role as a bridge between innovators and policy makers.

"We need someone who can drive policy issues, both in Sweden and in Brussels. An actor who can bring together the voices of startups and show what it actually takes to go from idea to effect."

His advice to policymakers:

"Make sure that rules do not stifle innovation. And create better incentives for investment in new companies and more public support to close the gap. We have the ideas, but we need a system that dares to believe in them."